James Melik reviewed some of the history behind Switzerland’s most iconic product. Highlights include:

The Swiss Army Knife was first patented over a hundred years ago in 1897.

The company behind the knife makes 35,000 each day.

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks pocket knives were banned from airplanes. This caused sales of Swiss Army Knives to plummet by 30%.

To deal with this the company released a ‘flight version’ of their product – it features no blades but has all the other functions.

More recent innovations include an army knife with a USB stick.

To read more about the countries that the company currently supplies, how they feel about the Chinese market, how the company, Victorinox, got its name, and why they have never made a worker redundant for financial reasons, click here.